324 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



young carrots, and beets, the colour of these vegetables 

 having caught the Infant's eye. 



The pony, Ginger, had a basket of second-crop clover 

 flowers provided for him; Reddy some corned- beef 

 hash, his favourite dish, coaxed from Anastasia; while 

 for Punch, Judy, and as many of their children as 

 would venture down from the rafters, the Infant had 

 compounded a wonderful salad of mixed nuts and 

 corn. As the Infant ordained that "the childrens 

 shan't turn in 'til d'sert, " we had the substantial part 

 of our meal in peace ; but the candles were no sooner 

 blown out and the cake cut than Ginger left his clover 

 to nibble the young carrots, the squirrels got into the 

 nut dish bodily and began sorting over the nuts to 

 find those they liked best, with such vigour that the 

 others flew in our faces, and Reddy fell off the box 

 upon which the Infant had balanced him with diffi- 

 culty, nearly carrying the table-cloth with him, while 

 at this moment, the feast becoming decidedly crumby, 

 we were surrounded by the entire flock of English 



sparrows ! 

 ******* 



Now this is not at all what I started to tell you; 

 quite the contrary. Please forgive this domestic ex- 

 cursion into the land of maternal pride and happen- 



